Picard's death and return
by Rangerfan58
Summary: first Picard dies and then his crew what next? a war after all of them return that nearly devastates the Federation? go to profile to understand rating system


_I don't own Star Trek. This is based off of the episode Gambit but it's not that episode at all it's based after the episode I guess and this is before the movie that killed Data_

Well the crew was definitely mourning the loss of their captain but their second-in-command wasn't really doing anything but trying to get the funeral arranged at the moment, not even letting himself take a break and show that he was suffering as well but he knew better than to go off half cocked and almost get himself killed like last time

"Mr. Data do you have _any_ idea if we can actually have a body for the ceremony?"

"I am afraid not Commander Riker, according to reports by the planet authorities the body was completely vaporized"

"so much for that idea"

well several days later they finally had final words for Captain Jean-Luc Picard and then continued their original mission not even bothering for a detached assignment even though they were one of the people who most wanted to find out why their captain had been killed

"once we finish this mission we're going to starbase 391 for routine maintenance and some shore leave by order of Starfleet"

"is this because of the death of the captain?"

"yes Deanna, it's because of the death of the captain"

and so three weeks later they were at starbase 391. While that was going on one very much alive Picard was evaluating his current situation

"well then, if I ever get out of here I'm probably going to have a very long journey ahead of me to get back to my crew"

"you won't get back to your crew because we finally have word of your death"

"so they think I died"

"yes and they're going to keep thinking that because we aren't going to let a slave like you go, if you try anything I'll kill you myself with the chip"

"I understand"

and so for the next three years things became routine for both groups, the _Enterprise _would explore and do missions as ordered while Picard became unrecognizable to anybody except the crew he was enslaved to. On the _Enterprise_

"Mr. Data please tell me that we've reached the correct planet for the delegation?"

"we have sir"

"good I'll be in the transporter room if you need me"

and so he met the delegation of aliens that wanted to talk about trade with the Federation and though he didn't know it the delegation included Picard

"welcome aboard the _Enterprise_ I'm Commander Riker and will be the one to conduct talks of trade"

"excuse me commander but I was told we'd be meeting the commanding officer of the flag ship of the Federation"

"ah, I understand your confusion, you see we lost the captain three years ago and though Starfleet Command wanted to promote me I ultimately turned the promotion down because no one but Captain Jean-Luc Picard is worthy of the captain's title for the _Enterprise_ in my mind so they made the exception and allowed me to keep my rank while giving me command of the Enterprise"

"I see well then why don't we go and do business"

"actually I have other things to attend to right now so we can meet in two hours, besides according to what I've been told now would be the traditional time you people would convene for lunch"

"very well we'll meet in two hours, and you're right we are hungry"

and so one by one the delegation left the transporter room and once all of them were gone Riker gave out a heavy sigh

"is something wrong Commander?"

"no chief, well maybe not it's at times like these that I really wish I could defer to the captain"

"so do I Commander"

"and it's not only that but the one member of the delegation that seemed remotely human reminded me of the Captain"

"I know sir it was the same for me but he's dead and he won't come back"

"I know chief, I know"

and so after two hours the meeting happened and things were concluded nicely. Once the delegation left the alien species talked to the one person that would've been affected the most

"I'm pleased to see that you took our warning seriously and didn't reveal yourself to your old crew"

"actually I think I might have been a slight hindrance in your plans because I reminded Number One of myself"

"all the same you were smart to keep yourself quiet and thus you should be rewarded, you don't have to do your normal work for tonight, instead you can just have your normal meals and relax" 

and with those words Picard left knowing that something else would come up in exchange for his "reward" seeing as how the last time he was "rewarded" for something good he did the rest of the slaves had to do his work on top of theirs and then would be lied to and told that it was because he had done something wrong that they were getting punished and thus Picard would be hated for the next few days and then the day after his reward he was given twice as much work and called a slacker. In his private rooms

(sighs) "what would you do in my situation Number One?"

and with those words in mind he went to sleep. On the _Enterprise_ Riker was deeply disturbed and his crew noticed it but ecided not to say a word just in case he was in a foul mood not realizing that maybe he actually _wanted_ to talk about that days events once the delegation came on board, and finally Dr. Crusher took up that role

"Will, you've been disturbed ever since the delegation came on board, why else would you have me do a mind probe and check your eyes?"

"you're right Dr. Crusher I am disturbed, one of the delegates looked to much like Captain Picard for my taste"

"but you know of all people that it wasn't the Captain"

"I know that Doctor but still, I think I need to clear my head for a few days, tell Data that he's in charge since I am unfit for duty due to emotional conflict"

"understood Commander"

unfortunately a few weeks later Picard got some news that would make him extremely angry for quite some time

"ah human, just the person I wanted to see" 

"what is it master?"

"you're old crew, the _Enterprise,_ we've just received word that it was destroyed by a couple of Romulans who crossed the boarder separating the two species"

Picard lost it then, he had been a slave for over three years and now to hear of his crews death had pushed him past his limits he finally fought back like he should've all those years ago and stole a shuttle and went straight towards the nearest Federation outpost be it a starbase, planet or starship he was going home. Three days later he wound up in a tractor beam from a Starfleet vessel

"this is the _U.S.S Reliant_ prepare to be beamed aboard and detained for questions"

and so he felt the familiar feeling of a Starfleet transporter system and wound up in a transporter room where the security guards promptly fainted and the person manning the transporter looked like they were about to

"uh, Captain, I think you need to come down here and handle this yourself"

"what for Lt.?"

"trust me on this sir you _really_ need to get down here yourself"

"Lt. let me explain something one last time, as Captain I am a very busy man and even more so since all the attacks we've suffered lately and you know that we've had several severe attacks in the past few days"

(groans) "so is it casualty or damage reports this time Captain?"

"actually neither for once, it's a report on the fact that several other ships have been attacked like we have recently and Starfleet command is suspecting that's how we lost the flagship and her crew"

"uh sir, we didn't lose the entire crew of the flagship like we thought"

"why do you say that Lt.?

"because of the fact that one supposedly dead Captain Picard is in the transporter room"

"are you serious Lt.?"

but the Lt. doesn't answer having finally fainted saying those words so the Captain is forced to go down to the transporter room and is shocked at seeing who it was they had picked up

"Captain Picard you've been dead for over three years now"

"I know I am, however I was actually taken prisoner and enslaved to an alien race that Riker came across shortly before his death" 

"we heard of that encounter but why didn't you escape sooner?"

"for one they told me I was dead to the Federation once I woke up and for another if not for the fact that my crew was at risk I would've told Will who I was at that meeting, as it was I only escaped because they angered me telling me about the death of my crew"

"this is going to take some explaining to Starfleet Command"

"I know that Captain I want to be on the bridge when you do so however so that I can give them a complete report on the people who kept me prisoner"

"I think I can arrange that Captain Picard"

and so they get to the bridge and the bridge crew notices that it was indeed Captain Picard that they had beamed aboard their ship and the Captain noticed someone missing

"Captain, where's your second-in-command?"

"he's been missing for about two months, the planetary authorities where he went missing are looking for him as best they can but so far they haven't found him and I have other missions I need to accomplish"

"I see, maybe we can share command status until either your commander is found or I get a new crew"

"I don't see why not"

"there is one problem though"

"you're right, none of the ships have duel command systems installed because we never really considered such a thing happening"

"so what do you propose Captain?"

"to be honest I'm not sure"

"now would be a good time to have Mr. LaForge or Mr. Data on board this ship"

"ah you're chief engineer and navigator"

"exactly, Mr. LaForge was excellent with any engine and Mr. Data, well let's just say that if you gave him a problem he could solve it within a matter of seconds if it was an easy problem and if it wasn't, give him five minutes and he could tell you what the problem was and how to solve it, though there were times when the solution took days to find but only because of the fact that the problem was too huge to take care of in one day but everyone knew when that scenario came up so it wasn't a problem"

"still those people on board this ship would be a huge help right now though I guess that's not going to happen since they're all dead"

"exactly Captain"

they ponder the question further and then decided to contact Starfleet Command to discuss this problem but before they could the navigator came up with the solution

"hey Captains I just thought of something"

"what is it Lt.?"

"all ships recently got an upgrade due to all these attacks, well it appears Starfleet thought up this exact scenario the rescuing of high level officers and they no longer have ships, you can have two commanders in charge of the ship or two captains in charge of the ship with the simple access code of Delta, Delta, Brag though the prime commanding officer of the ship has to give that command, and as how I found this out my Captain knows how much I love looking at upgrades for the ship just in case I myself need to use them"

"computer command code Delta, Delta, Brag authorization Princeton Zulu Mark 23998 Alpha Beta Zulu"

"command code recognized second person in charge command code"

"Picard Delta Zulu Mark 78965 Zulu Delta Alpha"

"command code recognized Jean-Luc Picard, Captain now co-in charge of _U.S.S. Reliant_"

"well now that that's settled let's contact Starfleet Command"

"agreed"

and so they open a channel to Starfleet Command and well let's just say they're not believe at first

"Captain Princeton you can't honestly believe that this is Captain Picard"

"the computer recognized his authorization code"

"but Princeton he's been dead for over three years"

"not dead a prisoner and slave to the ones that took me from the planet I was doing official Starfleet investigations and I will submit to a psychological evaluation if need be"

"look I just simply can't believe that you're alive after all this time"

"Wolf 359 I was known as Locutus of Borg and destroyed everyone there we were lucky that there were survivors and I later welcomed Commander Benjamin Sisko to Bajor and he initially wanted to leave but in the end stayed until his sudden disappearance after seven years and during his time at DS9 he was promoted to Captain either before or during the Dominion War, if you need a DNA scan to confirm it's me I'll gladly submit"

"no, no there's no need for that you've proven who you are when you said those things after all for one part only Captain Picard would know those things if they ever happened"

"thank you now than if you could change the record of my death I would appreciate it"

"I'll take care of it"

"thank you and in regards to the fact that I no longer have a ship and crew?"

"that'll take a while Captain we're all still a mess at the destruction of the flagship and suddenly it's rightful Captain is back it'll take time but we'll fix it eventually"

"very well until either the Captain's first officer comes back or I get my crew I'll stay here"

meanwhile the _Enterprise_ crew wasn't dead by a long shot, no they were prisoners of the same aliens that had been attacking the Federation recently and actually knew a fellow prisoner the "missing" Commander of the _Reliant_

"so I bet the crew of the flagship of the Federation has a good escape plan"

"unfortunately Commander we don't, we don't even know how we got here in the first place the last thing we remember was an attack and the next we're in cells like you"

"well this isn't good because that's the same thing I remember I was doing a Starfleet investigation on a planet one minute the next we have a fight on the planet and I wake up here"

"well we were fighting Romulans who crossed the neutral zone without permission"

"that's not good, so what now?"

"not sure after all we might be considered dead while you're probably considered missing"

"you have a point Commander Riker but I don't know what to do about that"

"neither do I actually"

over the next few weeks they figure out an escape plan and then eventually act upon it

"get those humans back into cages"

"you aren't taking us back, you may have taken us prisoner and we may not currently have a way out of here but we're escaping whether you like it or not"

and escape they did they actually stole a shuttle craft and left the planet

"ok so now what?"

"not sure really"

"maybe we should start by getting to a Federation outpost or ship"

"actually that's a good idea"

suddenly Deanna spoke up

"Will! I'm sensing the Captain"

"Deanna…"

"I'm serious Will I'm sensing his emotions"

"let's not go there right now Deanna, please"

well there victory was short lived because they were soon taken captive again by the same guys that captured them this time but in addition to the aliens they also had Romulan guards so that wasn't a good thing. Three years later Picard did have his own crew but because of his unique situation where his real crew was all dead everyone that served with him served on a six month basis always making sure that there was at least one recent graduate from Starfleet Academy

"Captain…Captain…Captain!"

"oh sorry Commander I was lost in my own thoughts"

"yeah, for the fifth time in the past hour"

"sorry Commander but my mind really can't concentrate today, what were you talking about again?"

"the newest transfers, they'll be here in a few days and we need to find places for them"

"you take care of that Commander I'll be in my ready room"

and so he goes to his office while his crew wonders what's wrong with their Captain

"you know ever since I came on board he's always seemed a little detached from the crew"

"maybe it's a defense mechanism after all he _did_ go missing for several years a little while ago"

"yeah but according to all accounts he's been back for three years now"

"maybe he's trying not to get attached should he lose us like he lost his old crew"

"who knows"

on the _Reliant_ things were actually the same for the most part but instead of an entire crew being replaced every six months, even though the original Commander was now considered dead, Starfleet didn't want his place permanently taken away in the slim chance that he was alive so that Captain had a new Commander every six months as well. Meanwhile with both the _Reliant_ Commander and the _Enterprise_ crew they were tired, hungry, dirty, and still thinking of a way to escape and return home

"maybe we could stage a revolt and get out of here that ways"

"Commander Riker that won't work trust me I tried that idea two weeks into my captivity and it failed"

"maybe it failed because it was only you that wanted to escape I've been hearing that more and more prisoners are being taken lately and that all of them want to escape and go back to their old lives if possible"

"ok then if there are more people up for it than let's do it let's escape and get back to our old lives"

and so they actually coordinate an escape plan with the rest of the prisoners and it took a few weeks but they finally succeeded in getting out of that place

"about time"

"agreed now to get back to Federation space and get back with our respective crews"

"agreed"

they then realize another problem

"uh does anyone have the star charts memorized so that we can find Federation space?"

everyone comes to only one conclusion and one person who could've done that

"Data"

"so what now he's in another ship right?"

"yes he is, so I honestly don't know what to do next"

"do these things have audio communications?"

"let's try"

and they finally get in contact with Data and succeed in coordinating with him to get back into Federation space where they were promptly ordered to stop their crafts and prepare to be teleported aboard their ships which they easily complied with and once aboard some security officers fainted while others managed to get them into the brigs of the ships until they could confirm who they were

"you know that it's only so that we aren't attacked by you guys"

"we know Lt. you're only doing what you have to to protect the ship and crew"

"uh Lt. the person with the yellow skin is trying to either whistle or use his cell to contact someone on the outside and failing miserably at both"

(groans) "this is the hundredth or so time since our initial capture some time ago that he's tried to whistle and he knows he can't, he doesn't even really have any emotions since he's an android, Data, stop trying to whistle and if you're trying to get into contact with Captain Picard you should know better than to try and do so within the brig"

"I am not trying to get into contact with anyone Commander instead I am trying to ascertain what is compromising the hull of the ship since the integrity is not what it should be and has been decreasing for some time, even before we came aboard after our escape from our captives, and Commander it has been approximately three years and two months since we were captured and the _Enterprise_ destroyed and approximately three years and four months since the Commander of the _Reliant_ was taken captive on an official Starfleet mission on a planet"

"wait, forget how long you guys think you've been gone if you're really Starfleet officers, did you just say that the ships integrity has somehow been compromised?"

"yes Lt. if the problem is not found within hours and a solution given this ship will break apart in approximately four days and twelve hours"

"I think it's time to talk to the captain about this"

a few minutes later the captain came directly to the bridge"

"look I'm not saying I believe that you're Lt. Commander Data but if you can help me fix my ship then I'll let you and your companions free and I'll fast track identification processes on all ships"

"of course captain I should have a solution and the problem within one hour"

"good once that's done I'll let the people that came with you go"

several hours later everyone on the ship that had been put into the brig was in the conference room

"Starfleet is never going to believe this, I mean we got a big enough shock a little over three years ago when Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the _U.S.S. Enterprise_ showed up very much alive, but for his entire crew and the missing Commander of the _Reliant_ to show up alive after over three years of being considered dead is just too much for us too fast"

"wait are you saying that Captain Picard is really alive?"

"yes he is"

"I thought I felt him"

"sorry for doubting you Deanna"

"it's alright Will, you couldn't have known besides even I had some doubts due to the fact that it was so faint I thought I might be imagining it out of the fact that I missed him"

"still Commander you have to realize that Captain Picard has a new crew and will no longer be in command of us"

"actually Lt. Commander Data he may have a new crew but it switches every six months, as does the Commander of the _Reliant_" 

"that means we can get back to our respective commanding officers"

"exactly we just need to inform Starfleet Command about this turn of events"

"of course"

and so a few hours later the crew of the _Enterprise_ and the Commander of the _Reliant_ were taken off the KIA list and were told that the _Enterprise_ was to be diverted to their location for the transferring of all personnel to their rightful ships and that included the Commander of the _Reliant_ because the _Enterprise_ was scheduled for a routine rendezvous with them anyways for supplies and catching up with one another thus would provide the excellent time for the Commander of the _Reliant_ to get back to his crew and commanding officer

"understood sir, and it's great to know that we'll be serving under one of the best Captain's in the fleet"

"oh and who would you call the best Captain Commander Riker?"

"Admiral Janeway was the best Captain in my book sir considering she kept almost her entire crew alive for seven years while in the Delta quadrant"

"that is quite a feet I'll give you that one"

"though she can't beat a figure in history, no one can and Captain Picard actually served with him for a very short time"

"who would that figure in history be?"

"Captain James T. Kirk sir of the _U.S.S. Enterprise_ the first one sir"

"well he died a long time ago so how could Picard serve with Kirk even for a brief moment?"

"it's a long story sir, and one that Captain Picard already gave to the higher ups, now if you'll excuse me we have some preparing to do to get back to Captain Picard"

and so a few days later everyone that was supposed to be was on the _Enterprise_ and at their stations

"it's good to have you back number one"

"it's good to be back sir, and it's good to have you back as well, seeing as how until recently we thought you were dead"

"I know number one, I know, Mr. Data plot a course that will allow us to intercept the _Reliant_ he should be some where's near the neutral zone at the moment but I can't be too sure due to the fact that he may have been reassigned already to another sector but according to the Captain they were to be there patrolling for six months or more"

"aye Captain"

and so a few days later they were at the neutral zone and the _Reliant_ was indeed there

"Captain Picard it's…Picard are those people who I think they are?"

"indeed they are Captain Princeton, this is my original crew, they were apparently taken prisoner and not killed as previously thought"

"and yet my Commander…"

"is in the transporter room Captain, waiting for permission to beam over"

"permission definitely granted Picard"

"very well, transporter room you can beam the Commander now"

a few minutes later the _Reliant_ confirmed they had the Commander

"well then we have a mission to complete number one it appears that two planets want a peace treaty with each other and need a mediator and we're the ones that have been chosen"

"then let's get to it sir"

"Mr. Data plot a course 274 Mark 94"

"course plotted and laid in sir"

"engage"

and so the peace treaty went very well with the two people agreeing to terms pretty nicely when it came to the treaty, it did get a little ugly at places but only because both sides wouldn't concede to certain terms but over all it went very smoothly. Three hours later the _Enterprise_ had a much bigger problem to solve then peace treaties, the Federation was at war with Romulans, and Dominion rogues

"so what now Captain? we're at in a war"

"well number one I suggest we get all the information we can and go from there"

and they do so and the war lasts for a long time but eventually it ended though both sides suffered heavy losses before it ended but it eventually ended, with honors being given to all those who died in the name of peace specifically those that served aboard DS9, _U.S.S Voyager_ and the _U.S.S Enterprise_ because all of those people sacrificed themselves during the war even though they lost _Voyager_ at the end they still felt it was a harsh blow and the two ships that would serve under that name from then on had only the best of the best from both the academy and other ships because they were considered the best of the fleet even before the first main people sacrificed themselves for it and as for DS9 while the best of the best didn't serve on the station they always made sure that they had more than two years of service in Starfleet and also that there was always at least one Bajoran officer on that ship and _always_ second-in-command of the station


End file.
